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Clarification of urgent notice regarding accredited and non-accredited accommodation

06 February 2020 | Story Lacea Loader

During meetings between the management of the University of the Free State (UFS) and the Bloemfontein Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC) the week of 27 January 2020, an agreement regarding accredited and non-accredited accommodation was reached. Although it has been communicated to students on the university’s campuses earlier this week, it is important to clarify the agreement:

• For 2020, students on the three campuses of the UFS who receive funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and who live in accredited and non-accredited accommodation, will receive the monthly accommodation allowance that will be paid directly into the student’s bank account. Please note that the matter of the lease agreement is between the student and the service provider and the UFS does not take responsibility for payments to any supplier. The payments will only be made once funds are received from NSFAS.

• Registered NSFAS beneficiaries must log in on Self Service and apply online for the private accommodation allowance. The application process requires that the lease agreement should be uploaded on the Self-Service portal. This lease agreement must be signed by both the student and the service provider.

• Approved private accommodation applicants will receive their private accommodation allowance payment during the first week of each month for a period of 10 months, depending on the date of approval and the rental period.

• If the service provider does not have a lease agreement, students can download a basic lease agreement form here. This form must be signed by the student and the service provider.

• A process will be in place to verify the accommodation during 2020, as required by the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology (DHET). This process will start with the completion of the application form for accreditation by the service provider. The application form can be obtained here.

News Archive

Mandela statues and the issue of public representation

2015-09-04

Prof Grant Parker, Associate Professor of Classics and Co-Director of the Centre for African Studies at Stanford University, USA, presented a public lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus on 27 August 2015, in which he explored the topic of ”Memorialising Mandela after Rhodes Must Fall”. What stories do the multitude of Mandela statues tell us about the man? Our society? Ourselves? These were some of the questions Prof Parker addressed during his lecture.

Paradoxes
Prof Parker discussed some of the paradoxes presented by the Mandela statues. The huge 9m high Mandela statue at the Union Buildings in Pretoria does not necessarily reflect his humility. Iconic statues strewn across the world do not reveal Madiba’s appeal. “Madiba’s charm,” Prof Parker said, “was all about his ability to relate to people of very different backgrounds. People who were his enemies would – to their surprise – find a humanity they were not expecting. It’s very hard to reconcile that with the colossal statues.”

Rhodes Must Fall
On the topic of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, Prof Parker said that “the debates around it seem to express the frustration of deepening equality in general and lack of demographic change.” He also believes that, although the campaign centres on statues, there are much deeper issues at play that need to be addressed.

Artists should be part of the conversation
Prof Parker also advocated that artists’ voices should be incorporated into the creative processes of public art. “There is a much greater need for creative artists,” he concluded, “to be part of conversations, not only about what we as South Africans want to commemorate, but how we do that. I would very strongly suggest that this be done by non-figural representations.”

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